Eternal Snow
by Pandora Angel Alice
Summary: Songfic. Eternal Snow by Changing My Life. After everything they'd been through, she was gone. Forever. "Just Pretend... for one night, please, pretend you love me." Set after the Winter War. IchiRuki. Ichigo and Rukia. IchixRuki


**I don't own Bleach, that belongs to Tite Kubo.**

**Eternal Snow belongs to Myco.**

_**Lyrics**_

_Thoughts_

"Words"

**Eternal Snow**

* * *

_**How long has it been since I fell in love with you?  
My feelings only increase**_

Rukia dropped to the ground, grasping the gaping hole in her stomach, warm, crimson liquid seeping past her fingers. Blood. She was dying.

Her final moments.

Had someone wanted to kill her? It was pretty obvious, considering there was a gaping hole through her stomach.

She bit back a dry sob, thinking about all the pople she never said goodbye to. Renji... Orihime... Uryuu... Chad... Byakuya... Ichigo... her thoughts stopped on Ichigo. She thought back to him. His hair... the colour of the setting sun. Chesnut brown eyes. And the permanent scowl that Rukia had grown to love.

Love.

She _loved _Ichigo Kurosaki.

And he would never know.

It was bitterly cold outside, and in the corner of her eye, Rukia saw a white flake.

Snow.

It was snowing.

With all of her strength, Rukia whispered the only thing she could think of.

"Ichigo..."

_**Will you notice them  
Even though I've never once put them into words?**_

_"Rukia's been gone for a while now... " _Ichigo thought to himself.

_"She said she was only going for a walk. Where is she?"_ Ichigo thought again, looking at the closet door.

After a few more minutes, Ichigo stood up, tired of waiting.

He looked outside to see it was snowing. There was already a pretty thick blanket of it outside.

"Dammit..." He cursed, grabbing both his dark blue jacket and Rukia's pale pink one.

He just prayed the raven-haired girl hadn't gotten into any trouble.

_**Like the snow, they just  
Quietly keep piling forward**_

Rukia couged up more blood. She had been lying down in the snow for that for what seemed like an eternity.

She closed her eyes for a moment, praying that someone would find her, only to have tham snap open. Rukia bit her lip so hard it bled, holding back a scream.

The one little movment she made was enough to open the wound even more.

_"Someone... Anyone... help..."_

_**Hold me tight- if this is how it feels  
I didn't want to know  
What it was like to be in love with someone  
I love you- and now my tears won't stop  
And so I wish  
That I had never met you**_

Ichigo landed in a remote area of town. No one was out. He was in shinigami form; he figured going like this would be easier than driving.

Ichigo then noticed something- blood. It covered the once pure white snow. The orange-haired teen walked a little more, and gasped in horror.

There on the ground, covered in blood and snow, was Rukia Kuchiki.

She lay there, panting and coughing, looking broken and covered in blood.

_Her _blood.

Rukia's hair was matted with the red liquid, although slightly wet from the snow. Violet eyes were closed. _'I wish I had never met you... Ichigo Kurosaki.' _Realizing what she had just thought, she sobbed again. How could she think that? They had changed the other's world.

"R-Rukia...?" Ichigo croaked out, taking a shaky step forword.

Rukia's eyes snapped open, and she looked at Ichigo with a painful stare.

She smiled sadly. "Ichigo... you came... idiot... you did this for me?" She asked shaking her head in amusment, just before coughing violently. Blood oozed out of her mouth.

Ichigo ran towords her, panic coursing through him. "What did you do now?! You moron! Stop moving! You're making it worse!" He yelled, trying to lift her up.

Rukia smiled and lightly touched his face. Ichigo grabbed her wrist. "Stop actin' like you're gonna die!" He whispered desperatly. His eyes were glossy with unshed tears. "J-just... stop."

Ichigo picked her up and they set off for Orhime's house, determined to have her heal Rukia.

_**How long will I be thinking of you?  
My sighs fogged up the window glass**_

___Please... Don't do this...  
__Please._

She thought desperatly.

_Just leave me here to die. I don't deserve this. I don't deserve your love._

_I **don't**._

_**Can a candle flame  
Still melt my trembling heart?**_

"Ichigo... stop for a minute... please..." Rukia asked, gripping Ichigo's kimono lightly.

"No way, you could-" Ichigo stopped as Rukia coughed violently, coughing up blood all over the snow.

"Please... Ichigo... just for one minute..." She pleaded.

"No! I won't lose another-"

"Stop... it h-hurts..." Rukia said, motioning to her bloody kimono, gripping it tightly.

Ichigo came to a halt in the park, and plopped down on the grass that was not yet covered by the snow.

Rukia smiled. "Arigatou..."

"What'd you want to tell me, Rukia?"

_**Hold me tight, tight enough to break me  
So that even in an icy wind or a blizzard  
I won't feel cold  
I miss you- every time I think of you  
Tonight, too, I hold  
This half-finished muffler, all alone**_

The snow was falling down heavily now, any harder and it would have been a blizzard... but no, it was just an icy wind.

"Ichigo..." Rukia started. "I-I love you..." She whispered. Ichigo's eyes widened. This _was_ Rukia, right?

"Could you... even for a minute pretend you love me? Just for a second... Please..." Rukia breathed out.

"Rukia, I..." "Please, Ichigo! Do it... for me..." She said, relaxing.

Ichigo closed his eyes, and kissed her.

Rukia smiled into the kiss.

_**If there was an eternally falling snow  
Could it hide my feelings for you?**_

The two shinigami pulled apart.

"Ichigo... arigatou..." Rukia said. Her breath then slowed a little. " I feel... calm..."

Ichigo's eyes widened. "No, Rukia, don't feel calm! Don't relax, don't close your eyes! Whatever you do, don't close your eyes, stay awake!" Ichigo pleaded with her.

Rukia's eyes had become distant. "I'm sorry..." She whispered.

Ichigo stood up. "Sorry?! What do you have to be sorry for?! Don't feel sorry for me, okay, argue with me! We're gonna go to Orihime's, she'll heal you, and everything will be back to normal." Ichigo said, holding Rukia tightly.

Rukia gasped, the light in her eyes fading. "Goodbye... Ichigo..." Her eyes closed. And the wind just seemed to whisper,

_"I'm sorry"_

Ichigo stood up, not believing she was really dead.

_**Hold me tight- if this is how it feels**__**  
**__**I didn't want to know**_

"Ichigo... I'm sorry. She's gone." Orihime said, the bright orange light fading from her hands. Tears fell from her eyes, and onto her best friend's cold hand.

Ichigo closed his eyes, remembering what she had asked of him right before she died.

_"Could you... even for a minute pretend you love me? Just for a second... Please..." Rukia breathed out._

_"Rukia, I..." "Please, Ichigo! Do it... for me..." She said, relaxing._

_Ichigo closed his eyes, and kissed her._

_Rukia smiled into the kiss._

_**What it was like to be in love with someone  
I love you- the feeling wells up in my chest  
I want to shout to the wintery sky**_

Ichigo looked at the dead shinigami in front of him, and whispered,

"I was never pretending.... Rukia."

_**I want to see you right now**_

* * *

**My first BLEACH fic!**

**GO ICHIRUKI!**


End file.
